I'm very sad to report that a 45-year-old man was killed in an avalanche while snowboarding in the backcountry outside of the Canyons Resort in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends who are so affected by this tragedy.
The avalanche beacon tester is up and running at the Geyser Pass trailhead! Walk or ride past the sign on your way up - a red X means your beacon is off or not functioning, a green O means you're good to go! Thanks to UAC volunteer and supporter Kristi Jensen from
Coyote Shuttle for helping me get it set up!
Road Conditions: Expect to find a trace to an inch of snow on the road over a snow-packed and slick surface. All-wheel drive vehicles with good tires will be required.
Grooming update: It's been more than a week since Matt rolled and packed into Gold Basin and conditions are a bit rugged. I'll be picking up the other machine this week and we'll be able to start running the Ginzu groomer.
24 Hour Snow 1" Base Depth in Gold Basin 30" Wind N 5 mph Temp -2F
1" of snow has fallen overnight. NW winds picked up yesterday afternoon and blew in the 15-20 mph range with gusts to 30 before tapering off around 4:00 this morning. They are currently light and northerly. Today we will see mostly sunny skies, light northerly winds, and cold temps with highs in the mid to upper teens. The weather looks dry for the foreseeable future with the next trough appearing on the horizon for early next week.
Observer Chris Benson and company were over on La Sal Pass yesterday and they sent in this
report.
In our travels up the Laurel Highway over the weekend we found lots of windblown and crusted surfaces. We found creamy, blown-in snow in sheltered locations that made for fun, fast, and occasionally variable turning conditions. The base is holding up pretty well, but it's now been two weeks since the last significant storm and many rocks and logs are starting to appear.
The good news is that we have been unable to locate a reactive, persistent weak layer, and the development of basal facets, or weak sugary snow near the ground is minimal. For now, your only real concern is isolated areas of wind drifted snow. For more details on that see this observation from
Travis Nauman.
I'm very sad to report that a 45-year-old man was killed in an avalanche while snowboarding in the backcountry outside of the Canyons Resort in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends who are so affected by this tragedy. Here is the
preliminary report. UAC staff will be performing an investigation today.
